spider_monkey
Lantern Swinger

I hear that one of the LPD’s is to be mothballed or placed at significantly reduced readiness. Can anybody clarify the situation and the timeframe?
It seems odd to me to reduce the amphibious capability of the RN and the sceptic in me thinks that this measure is purely due to lack of funding from the treasury and manning reductions in the Service. As I understand it the longer-term plan is to re-instate the ship (and its capability) in a few years but this might be difficult; the men in the Ministry will have a very good case when they point out that the RN has managed with only one Albion Class C2 platform for some time and then ask the question 'why do we need 2 if you could do the job with 1'.
HMS Albion entered service in 2003 and HMS Bulwark was commissioned in April 2005 so both ships are new(ish). I wonder what the state of affairs will be when one has been cannibalised to keep the other in working order not to mention the skill fade of the specialist Assault Sqn and key planners.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Albion class here’s a link: http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.1811
It seems odd to me to reduce the amphibious capability of the RN and the sceptic in me thinks that this measure is purely due to lack of funding from the treasury and manning reductions in the Service. As I understand it the longer-term plan is to re-instate the ship (and its capability) in a few years but this might be difficult; the men in the Ministry will have a very good case when they point out that the RN has managed with only one Albion Class C2 platform for some time and then ask the question 'why do we need 2 if you could do the job with 1'.
HMS Albion entered service in 2003 and HMS Bulwark was commissioned in April 2005 so both ships are new(ish). I wonder what the state of affairs will be when one has been cannibalised to keep the other in working order not to mention the skill fade of the specialist Assault Sqn and key planners.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Albion class here’s a link: http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.1811